Well, with the league in Spain restarting soon, thought I'd put this up. Backed Atlético to repeat this year, and watching last nights game, think I could be right. Think Real will find that we've gone and bought more coats of paint on the Bentley, having sold the engine... Again. It's like history really is bound to repeat itself.

kingraf

raf

Posts : 16122Join date : 2012-06-06Age : 24Location : To you I am there. To me I am here.... is it possible that I'm everywhere?

He hasn't been great, but it is his first season, and Messi is the undisputed superstar of the team, and system. Indeed, the system has been designed to funnel everything through Messi, and get the best out of him. It's then remarkable that Barcelona have spent nearly 250m (40m Zlatan, 40m Villa, 35m Sánchez, 75m Suárez, at least 50m on Neymar, dont think we'll ever know the real fee) on playmates for Messi when by design, it's never gonna let those players produce the numbers which justify those prices. That said, yes Suárez has been rank, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

kingraf

raf

Posts : 16122Join date : 2012-06-06Age : 24Location : To you I am there. To me I am here.... is it possible that I'm everywhere?

Saw highlights this morning, you could see how frustrated Barcelona were at being held & in the last 10 mins, Barcelona went to Plan B, which is act like you've been shot & dive around after minimal contact. You knew that ref was about to make a shocker at any minute. They were even lucky with Messi's penalty rebound.

28 to 21 to CR7. For all Ronaldo's goals in that explosive start, he's gone cold. It was like three in six or seven games before this red card today. Messi should bang at least five you would imagine, while Ronaldo is out.

Couldn't care less about the top goalscorers trophy. Its a nice trophy for him, but he already has a few, but only one la liga. Out for Sevilla and Atlético. Couldn't have picked a more inopportune time to be an idiot. Time for Bale to show what 100 million gets you.

kingraf

raf

Posts : 16122Join date : 2012-06-06Age : 24Location : To you I am there. To me I am here.... is it possible that I'm everywhere?

Not much except for what I've heard and some highlights to be honest. The local network doesn't show much la liga, except the big three, and recently... uh Sociedad. Seems competent enough.big tall lad as well. Overall, from what I've seen I'd say he's about par.

kingraf

raf

Posts : 16122Join date : 2012-06-06Age : 24Location : To you I am there. To me I am here.... is it possible that I'm everywhere?

kingraf wrote:Couldn't care less about the top goalscorers trophy. Its a nice trophy for him, but he already has a few, but only one la liga. Out for Sevilla and Atlético. Couldn't have picked a more inopportune time to be an idiot. Time for Bale to show what 100 million gets you.

Cristiano's huge ego very much cares about the Pichichi. He'll be mortified if King Leo wins it after he was some 10-15 goals behind at one stage.

Kicked & then slapped a player, deserves three match ban, as defined in the rules for a straight red card. What an embarrassing comment, your saying the league's disciplinary panel should go easy because it's Ronaldo. They should go easy because Real Madrid face tricky fixtures ahead. Laughable. The reason why the Corboda player has said he Wants leniency is because apparently he's been threatened by some mob in Madrid to come out with such a statement.

"The Portuguese captain’s uncharacteristic behaviour was captured on camera, but it appears his cause has been helped by the referee Alejandro Hernandez not referring to violent conduct in his match report.

Referee Hernandez is thought to have missed Ronaldo’s initial punch on an opponent, with Spanish newspaper Marca revealing that it was left out of the official match report.

‘In the 83rd minute Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off for the following reason: kicking an opponent when the ball was out of reach,’ it read.

While Ronaldo will receive an automatic one-game ban for his direct red card, his chances of the suspension not being extended have been helped by the absence of any mention of violent conduct in the report."

Fifa is investigating Real Madrid's youth transfer policy and has asked the club for information on 51 players.Club director Emilio Butragueno confirmed Fifa had asked the Spanish Federation for documents relating to transfers over the last five years.Butragueno said the club was "absolutely calm" about its behaviour.Fifa handed Barcelona a transfer ban until 2016 after they breached regulations when signing 10 players under the age of 18 in 2013.In a statement, Real Madrid said the majority of the 51 players that world football's governing body had asked for information on were exempt from regulations for various reasons.Fifa rules state that international transfers are only permitted for players who are over the age of 18 - unless the player in question meets one of three qualifying criteria.Under-18s can move to a club in a different country if:their parents move there for non-footballing reasons;if they are from another nation within the European Union or European Economic Area and aged between 16 and 18;or if they live within 100km of the club.Real claim 10 of the 51 players were Spanish nationals, while 23 foreign players had already been registered with a Spanish club.On Thursday, Real completed the £2.3m signing of 16-year-old Norway midfielder Martin Odegaard from Stromgodset.

Dammit... Didn't know they had their hands on so many junior pies. Hopefully nothing comes from it. Still, it's worrying that they can explain away 33 of them... that means they must be at least a little concerned about the other eighteen

kingraf

raf

Posts : 16122Join date : 2012-06-06Age : 24Location : To you I am there. To me I am here.... is it possible that I'm everywhere?

Unfortunate for Atlético, but thats footie. Think this might be the last season they are punching above their weight. A Chinese billionaire bought about 20% of the club early this month, and the fact that they (at essentially no cost to them) taking on nearly 200 Chinese players to develop should ease market penetration into Asia's most populous country. Next few seasons, I think they become a proper heavyweight.

kingraf

raf

Posts : 16122Join date : 2012-06-06Age : 24Location : To you I am there. To me I am here.... is it possible that I'm everywhere?

Incredible end to end contest between Barca and Villareal - less of a football match, more of an extended highlight reel. Suarez's goalscoring woes continue but did well to create space for others. Messi confirming with every game a switch has been flicked in the last month - he's rediscovered that spark, just disappointing he couldn't play with such energy in Brazil last summer. However, he's really starting to take the p!ss now that he does things with his right foot that defenders previously only had to worry about on his left! 12 goals this season from the little man's right peg.

Funny old game is football. Ukrainian centre back Dymtro Chygrynskiy was released by Shakhtar today. Back in 2009 Chygrynskiy was one of the top young CBs in European football. Pep Guardiola wanted him at any cost and at the time was rumoured to have said he'd resign if Barcelona didn't sign Chygrynskiy. This led to a €25m move for the big Ukrainian as a long term successor to Carles Puyol. Yet after one disappointing season Chygrynskiy was sold back to Shakhtar, against Pep's wishes.

Roll forward 5 years and aged 28 Chygrynskiy's career has all but fizzled out. Since he returned to Shakhtar, he hardly played.

Fernando wrote:If he a class apart then he's a level above United Could see him replacing Hazard at Chelsea if RM/Barca went in for him.

Comedy your new thing Nando...

Hazard to Barcelona is a non event, Neymar Jr plays off the left side and he's better than Hazard.

Antoine Griezmann 'supported' Manchester United as a kid but considering he's the heir apparent to Franck Ribery, I see PSG going after him.

No i shall leave that to your rumor mill

Neymar is highly overrated id take James over him any day of the week

You're comparing apples with pears Nando...

Neymar Jr is at his best playing from the left of a front three. Whereas James is a #10. And for the record I like James...just a shame he plays for Real...

Well then shall compare him to LW in La Liga. Griezmann & Ronaldo are both better and more consistent. Apart from his finishing Neymar doesn't seem to bring much to the table from when i watch Barcelona which is almost weekly depending on the SNF.